SDR Manager

Fireworks•New York, NY

23h

About The Position

Fireworks is hiring its first SDR Manager to build and lead the business development function. The role is responsible for hiring, coaching, and growing a team of SDRs who qualify inbound interest from developers and enterprises and prospect into high-value target accounts, generating pipeline for the Account Executive team. This is a hands-on, first-line leadership and builder role. The manager will own team performance and development while creating the playbooks, systems, and AI-powered workflows that support the top-of-funnel motion. The role calls for a coaching-focused leader who uses data to guide decisions, is fluent in AI tooling and process design, and is eager to shape sales development at a fast-growing AI company.

Requirements

2–4 years of direct, first-line management experience leading SDR/BDR teams.
A proven track record of coaching and developing representatives, including promotions into AE or leadership roles, and leading teams that consistently hit or exceed targets.
Hands-on experience building AI workflows that measurably improved sales productivity, such as workflows using Clay, AI agents, LLM-based prompts, or automations.
A data-driven, proactive mindset, including the ability to investigate problems and implement solutions.
Experience managing team performance through metrics, funnel analytics, and pipeline forecasting.
Prior experience as an individual contributor in sales development or a closing role.
Excellent communication and organizational skills.
Comfort engaging technical buyers.

Nice To Haves

Experience building a sales development function from scratch at a high-growth startup.
Background in AI, developer tools, cloud infrastructure, or other technical SaaS.
Experience with both high-volume inbound and targeted outbound motions.
Fluency with a modern GTM stack such as Salesforce, Outreach, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or Gong.
Passion for developing early-career sales talent and an active interest in the AI/ML space.

Responsibilities

Hire, onboard, and lead a team of SDRs, scaling the team as Fireworks grows.
Coach representatives through regular 1:1s, call and email reviews, and hands-on skill development, while building a clear path from BDR to AE.
Own team performance across activity, conversion rates, meetings booked, pipeline generated, and quota attainment.
Build repeatable playbooks for inbound qualification and outbound prospecting, including ICP, personas, messaging, and AE handoff criteria.
Partner with Marketing to convert inbound and product-led signals, including signups, usage, and events, into qualified opportunities.
Design and deploy AI workflows and automations for account research, prioritization, personalization, and reporting.
Audit and improve SDR processes, including lead routing, follow-up speed, sequencing, and handoffs.
Build dashboards and reporting that provide the team and leadership with visibility into funnel health.
Use data to find bottlenecks, run experiments, and act on insights.
Work with Sales leadership and RevOps to align on target accounts, territories, lead routing, and pipeline goals.